The Heaven-Slaying Sword - Chapter 2

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Order

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◈ The Heaven-Slaying Sword ◈

Chapter 2: Chapter One - Childhood (1)

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A thatched cottage in a mountain valley in Jiangxi Province.

Mok Ri-won, a boy turning seven that year, tilted his head at his master's words.

"Won, you were born beneath a star of killing calamity."

"What's a killing calamity?"

"It means taking lives."

"Then am I going to become someone who takes lives?"

"No. That is for you to decide."

The old man.

Mok Seon-o, the man once called the Sword Star, shook his head with a hearty laugh.

"You look as though you don't understand."

"Yes..."

Mok Seon-o looked at the child.

With his innocent face and blinking eyes, he was lovely enough to pass for a young master from some great city rather than a child raised in a mountain valley.

Beneath his pitch-black hair were dark brown eyes that grew closer to black with each passing day.

His skin was pale and flawless, and his lashes were long and fine.

He had yet to develop the features of a man, leaving him with such a delicate appearance that he could easily be mistaken for a girl. His nature was just as gentle as his appearance suggested.

The child he had taken in on the day of the bloody affair seven years ago had grown so lovely.

"It's all right not to understand. You'll learn little by little."

Mok Seon-o stroked Mok Ri-won's head.

Mok Ri-won lowered his head, his cheeks reddening.

"Do you know why I'm telling you this?"

"No..."

"Because I don't want you to grow into someone who takes lives."

The old man's eyes met the child's.

"This master wants you to grow into someone who saves others."

"I like saving people too!"

"Of course you do. You're such a kind child that you even save rabbits caught in traps."

For seven long years, Mok Seon-o had raised the child with nothing but love. Now, the truth he needed to tell him felt unbearably cruel.

The child was so lovely and pure. Mok Seon-o could not help resenting the heavens for giving him such a harsh fate.

Still, he could not hide the truth.

The Heavenly Slaughter Star was a star that compelled its bearer to bring about killing calamities regardless of their will. At the same time, it cast the person born beneath it into an endless abyss.

That was why it was better to tell him the truth and help him develop the strength to resist it.

"The star bestowed upon you is called the Heavenly Slaughter Star."

Mok Ri-won's eyes widened.

The child had exceptional comprehension and understood the meaning from the flow of their conversation alone.

"It uses the characters for heaven, kill, and star, doesn't it?"

"That's right. You've already worked out the meaning of the word. Very good."

"Hehe..."

"Then you understand what this star is for too."

"It's a star sent down by Heaven for taking lives!"

The moment he shouted it confidently, Mok Ri-won gasped in alarm.

"Th-then am I going to become a killing fiend?!"

"As I said, that depends on what you choose to do."

"What I choose to do?"

"Yes, what you choose. You can follow that fate and accumulate killing karma, or you can resist with all your strength and accumulate good karma instead."

Mok Ri-won furrowed his brow.

After thinking for a moment, he shook his head.

"I don't like killing karma. It makes me so sad when I see animals die."

"Then you must accumulate good karma."

"Yes!"

Mok Ri-won's eyes sparkled.

He already knew what the old man would say after a conversation like this.

'Learning!'

The old man would teach him something.

Just as he had taught him the names of flowers to teach him classical Chinese, and given him bird feed to teach him farming.

He would teach him something strange and wonderful.

Mok Seon-o knew what the child expected.

Without adding needless words, he fulfilled that expectation.

"This master will teach you martial arts."

"Martial arts?"

"That's right, martial arts. If you learn them well, you'll become someone who can fight a tiger and win."

Mok Ri-won's mouth fell open.

A tiger.

It was the largest and most frightening animal Mok Ri-won knew, and therefore the strongest creature in the world.

"Then I'm going to become the greatest under heaven!"

"The greatest under heaven... With the talent bestowed upon you, it isn't impossible."

Mok Seon-o smiled.

'The Heavenly Slaughter Star grants martial talent.'

A killing fiend sent down by Heaven.

True to its name, the Heavenly Slaughter Star gave its bearer astonishing talent for martial arts.

In other words, if the child trained properly, reaching the realm of the greatest under heaven would not be impossible.

"So, will you promise me one thing?"

"Yes?"

"Will you promise to use the martial arts I teach you for chivalry?"

"Chivalry?"

"Yes. It means doing what is righteous and just."

"What kind of things are righteous and just?"

"The path your convictions tell you is right."

It was difficult for a child to understand.

Mok Ri-won knitted his brows deeply, unable to hide his confusion.

Mok Seon-o laughed heartily and simplified his explanation.

"Chivalry is something you must spend your whole life thinking about. You may never find the answer."

"Then can't I use martial arts for my whole life?"

"No."

Mok Seon-o looked directly at the child.

Then, in the most serious voice he had used yet, he continued.

"It means you must think about chivalry every time you use martial arts."

Mok Ri-won gazed steadily at the old man.

The man always treated him with a smile, yet every so often, he wore the same sorrowful expression he did now.

At times like these, Mok Ri-won always did one thing.

"Yes! I'll become someone who always thinks carefully!"

He gave the answer that would make his master smile.

He smiled brightly first, so that his master could smile too.

"...You truly are a good child."

Fortunately, the old man smiled with him this time as well.

* * *

"Martial arts are the study of tempering the body and cultivating the heart."

In the yard of the thatched cottage, Mok Ri-won stood and listened closely to the old man's words.

"It is the study of becoming a complete individual standing alone among all things in the world. It is the study of taking one step closer to truth. We call that martial arts."

"Who are we?"

"The Martial World."

Mok Seon-o gave that answer, then added an explanation.

"It is the society of martial artists. A small society formed when martial artists, each like a tree, come together to make a forest."

"Then are all people of the Martial World chivalrous heroes?"

To Mok Ri-won, it was a natural question.

Mok Seon-o had said martial arts should be used for chivalry.

He had also said that those of the Martial World were people who used martial arts.

By that logic, would they not all naturally be chivalrous heroes?

Mok Seon-o smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Not everyone is. No, now that I think of it, there may be many who speak of chivalry but few who practice it."

"Are they bad people?"

"Well, even this master doesn't know."

Once, he had called those who turned their backs on chivalry evil people.

He had condemned those who lived for profit rather than morality.

But Mok Seon-o now understood.

Their chivalry simply differed from his own.

The justice they held in their hearts took different forms.

"You must experience the world and judge that for yourself, so I'll say no more and return to what we were discussing."

"Ah, yes!"

"At any rate, because martial arts have such foundations, they are a study where you must keep their meaning in mind rather than focus on strength alone."

Mok Seon-o released the clasped hands he had held behind his back until then.

At last, Mok Ri-won saw the old sword in his hand.

"This master will show you a little."

Shing.

The sword left its sheath.

Despite its worn appearance, the blade was honed so sharply that any martial artist would know at a glance that it had been carefully maintained.

Saaaaa.

It sounded like the wind rising.

Yet the sight that followed made Mok Ri-won's eyes grow wide.

'...Stars.'

It was broad daylight, yet stars filled his vision.

The sword Mok Seon-o had drawn was covered in cold, brilliant starlight.

"Seven Meteor Swords."

Mok Seon-o spoke.

"That is the name of the martial art you will learn from now on, Won."

Mok Seon-o's arm moved.

What unfolded next was a beautiful sword dance that would remain forever engraved in Mok Ri-won's memories.

* * *

Late that night.

Mok Ri-won curled up beneath his blanket and tried to sleep, but he could not.

There was only one reason.

The sword Mok Seon-o had shown him that day kept running through his mind.

'Seven Meteor Swords...!'

The sword art he would learn from now on.

A beautiful sword art that embroidered the entire space with cold starlight.

'I want to learn it soon!'

Mok Ri-won imagined himself.

He pictured himself holding a glowing white sword and performing a beautiful dance.

He pictured himself filling the forest with light.

Thump.

Mok Ri-won's young heart raced.

The corners of his lips refused to fall, rising into a broad smile.

Then Mok Ri-won remembered something else.

"Martial arts are divided into realms according to their level. From the bottom, there are third-rate, second-rate, first-rate, peak, and transcendent peak. Those are the five basic ranks."

"Basic ranks?"

"Yes. That means there are realms above them as well. But they aren't levels you need to worry about yet. If you look too far ahead in your studies, you won't be able to focus on what you need to learn now, so that is all you need to know for the moment."

It was the day he had learned the most basic structure of martial ranks.

Without trying to dispel the excitement keeping him awake, Mok Ri-won reviewed what he had heard that day.

'I'm third-rate!'

He had not yet properly entered the martial path. He could not sense qi, nor could he even swing a sword correctly.

But Mok Ri-won was not worried.

"The greatest under heaven... With the talent bestowed upon you, it isn't impossible."

His master had declared that he possessed talent, so there was no reason to worry.

Surely, he would have talent with the sword.

Just as Mok Seon-o had shown him that day, he would be able to pour forth stars that shone brightly even beneath the sun.

Mok Ri-won recalled what he had seen that afternoon.

His eyes slowly grew hazy.

'...The realm where I can release stars.'